Daughter of Fen'Harel
by Epiphany sola Gratia
Summary: Tamlen, unable to sleep as memories of his time at the Circle Tower under the sway of a Sloth demon continue to haunt him, he leaves his tent to sit by the fire. There Morrigan makes a disturbing proposition. (This story is based within the continuity of Eyes of a Stranger by Seika.)


**Disclaimer: The Dragon Age universe belongs to Bioware. Ashara belongs to Seika and appears in her Dragon age fan story: **_**Eyes of a Stranger**_**. This version of Tamlen also belongs to Seika and indirectly to Bioware, but most importantly, this version of Tamlen belongs to Ashara, so hands off. You have been warned. It is rated M for suggestive language and swearing.**

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**Daughter of Fen'Harel***

Since they had returned from the Circle, Tamlen had struggled with sleep.

The dreams that the Sloth demon had fashioned had seemed so real. They gnawed somewhere deep and even now filled him with a sense of painful longing: for his Clan, for his sister, Tianna, for children with Ashara. Whenever he closed his eyes, the shadows of a life he could never have, the shadows from the other side of a mirror, danced before his eyes. They mocked him, filling him with a deep sense of resentment.

In the night he would awaken, feeling Ashara molded against his side, her warmth so near. She was real. She was not a shadow. He still had her close to him, tethering him to his past, to the Clan that they could not return to and to the sister he had lost. She had brought him back from the Fade. She had helped to shatter the dream, and he had dutifully returned for her, for the real Ashara.

Even though he loved her, he could feel himself stifling, smothered between the reality of her body and the perfection of the dream he could not have. Gently he slipped out of her arms, carefully gathering the blanket they shared beneath her chin and carefully crawling from the tent and into the clearing.

The night air was chill and he stretched out his arms, to relieve some of the kinks in his muscles from sleeping on the ground. The moon had long since set, allowing the darkness to better display the stars glittering in the sky. He reveled in the quiet and the cold. It felt real, nothing nattering in his ear, particularly not the empty headed shemlen with his questions or the assassin with his insinuations. Breathing deeply the air, the chill filled his lungs and cleared some of the uncomfortable images that cluttered his mind.

"Tis cold in my tent, all alone," purred a slightly plaintive voice at his elbow.

Tamlen whirled around and was faced with Morrigan, her mouth pouted slightly and her yellow eyes seemed bright with both hunger and playfulness. The hair bristled at the nape of his neck and a pit built at the center of Tamlen's stomach. The shemlen mage's familiarity at times had both irked and baffled him. Occasionally she would venture to approach him when Ashara was occupied, but the rest of the time she was aloof.

Any time she approached him it filled him with a sense of foreboding. She was the "daughter" of Asha'bellanar and that meant she was dangerous. There were wheels roiling behind the yellow eyes, and they saw all. She was waiting for something, watching, and more than one occasion he caught her staring at him from the corner of his eye. It made his ears itch.

Tamlen desired none but Ashara, however he would have been lying if he was not intrigued by the shemlen woman. It was the hunter in him, considering an elusive form of prey, but he also got the impression that this woman probably viewed him much the same way. It became difficult to think around her at times and he felt flustered, though not the warm, giddy flustered he had felt when he pursued Ashara. This feeling was a cold, frustrated flustered that filled him with dread.

"Then get a thicker blanket," he huffed at her, going nearer to the fire at the center of the camp and extended his arms to warm his hands, trying to hide his uneasiness with a dismissive tone of voice.

She chuckled slightly, seeming to enjoy his discomfort, "I was thinking a warm body next to mine would be even better."

"Have you gone mad, woman?" he demanded, his eyes flashing.

"Hardly," she smiled, "though you seem to be on the edge of madness yourself. I have noticed you stalking the camp in the evenings as of late. You have been troubled and sleep has eluded you. I merely offered a diversion to relieve some of your pent up tensions."

"If I needed to release tension, I have my ways of relieving it that does not involve you. Ashara keeps me satisfied in that regard," Tamlen sneered roughly, "if you require the novelty of a elvhen lover, there is a rogue who I am sure will be more than happy to oblige."

She shook her head, "You mistake me, I am sure. I do not extend this offer out of a need for novelty on my part. Of all our companions you are the far superior specimen of manhood here and, if nothing else, I wished to voice my appreciation. If my advances are unwelcome, then I withdraw the offer. I had no desire to cause any unpleasantness between you and I."

Tamlen "harumphed" to himself and crossed his arms with an air of incredulity. She was being far too ingratiating for his liking. It felt like she was trying to coil her words around him like a snare, but he was far too good a hunter to fall for that sort of bait. Though she spoke softly, there was an intensity to her, a pent up desire just below the surface. She wanted something from him, but what?

"If you are concerned that your sweetheart would discover a possible tryst between you and I," she offered, her eyebrow cocking suggestively, "I assure you that I am the soul of discretion in such matters. No one need know. All are slumbering quite soundly."

These words made Tamlen experience a building unease, realizing that whoever was supposed to be on watch was nowhere to be seen. At the moment, what he feared was not darkspawn, but this shemlen woman who was starting to resemble a wolf, robed in smooth white skin. This woman could have been the daughter of Fen'Harel himself.

Suddenly, as if on cue, that was a clattering from the elderly mage's tent before she came forth. The woman hardly looked disheveled or the least bit groggy as one would expect a person who has awakened in the night. On seeing the pair talking before the fire the silver haired lady smiled, with a nod of her head, "Pardon my intrusion. Nature calls to those of us who are older, waking us from sound sleeps. Please forgive me if I have interrupted something."

There was a near imperceptible groan under Morrigan's breath as the other woman headed for the edge of the woods to relieve herself, Tamlen assumed. He used this as his opportunity to disengage himself from Morrigan's presence and retreat back to the tent he shared with Ashara.

"I would have preferred to entice you to my bed willingly, without worrying about involving your lover, my handsome hunter," sighed Morrigan as Tamlen disappeared hastily behind a flap, "but no matter. The time will come when sharing my bed will be your boon. Mark me well."

With that, she returned to her isolated corner of the camp, disappearing from view as she went into her own tent.

Wynne returned a moment later muttering, "I know not what you plan, but I hope your machinations will not harm any here", before she too crawled into her own tent, being careful to dispel any further sleep spells that the apostate had felt necessary to share with her other companions.

Alistair sat bolt upright from where he had dozed under a tree, swearing, "Damn it! I've never fallen asleep while keeping watch before! I hope no one noticed. Ashara would kill me!"

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_***If you have not read the story: Eyes of a Stranger by Seika, then you have been missing out on something special. I highly recommend reading it at here at . Just look it up (you know you want to...)**_

_**This short scene was written as a gift for Seika during the Cheeky Monkeys of Dragon Age Christmas 2011 secret santa exchange, but I never got around to posting it here. It is supposed to take place between chapters seventeen and eighteen in the larger story, but it is not nearly as good as Seika's original work. The characters of Ashara and Tamlen are in her AU version of the Dragon Age: Origins universe and are her creations. They are great characters to work with.**_

_**Note of Trivia: Fen'Harel is a Dalish trickster deity, also known as the Dread Wolf.**_


End file.
